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Kotone "Kai" Kusakabe
Kotone Kusakabe '''(日下部 琴音), better known by her nickname of '''Kai (カイ), is the secondary rider of Kamen Rider Heisei (Ghost), Kamen Rider Larcen. Character History Past Kai was born Kotone Kusakabe on December 16th, 1959. She was the daughter of Rentaro and Sasako Kusakabe, then-current heads of the Kusakabe music/acting dynasty. As such, she was launched into the spotlight at a young age, acting from as early as age 5. Kotone was one of the first idols in the modern sense of the word-a young, 'cute' girl who sung, danced, and acted. She was actually treated harshly by her parents, who she thought only seemed to care about her talents and not her as a person. She was briefly placed in a duo group called "Lace", but she left because she felt she was unworthy of sharing the spotlight. The pressure Kotone had, along with her minimum-wage salary despite her songs selling millions of copies, made her desperately want to quit. However, she understood the consequences of quitting-she would bring shame and dishonor to her family. Seeing no other alternatives, she hung herself. Some Ganma, seeing potential in her, brought her into their world and placed her soul into a Ganma Eyecon. However, Freya and Agape intervened, causing Kotone's Eyecon to escape the Ganma world and return to her human form, unknowingly projected by her Eyecon. Kotone was confused at first, but refused to let the revelation of her undying form bring her down. As such, she devoted herself to gathering Eyecons and using her wishes to help others, as well as becoming a modern-day Robin Hood-giving herself the new name of "Kai" to reflect her new outlook. She was a friend of Reika's through her early childhood. However, since she was a ghost, everyone (including Reika herself) believed that she was the little girl's imaginary friend. She left her friend after the future Rider entered the third grade, since she saw that she didn't believe in her anymore, but she vowed that they would see each other again. Present Kai would fulfill her promise decades later when she heard that there was a new Kamen Rider in town. Larcen made her presence known to Heisei in a big way when she took the W Ghost Eyecon while Heisei was preoccupied fighting a Ganma. She taunted the purple rider about how slow she was, before using the Eyecon to send a big gust of wind her way and escape. Since then, she developed what she calls a friendly rivalry with Heisei, clashing with her again for the Den-O Eyecon. However, this time she allowed Reika to keep the Eyecon, since she saw how Den-O seemed to matter to her. Kai was not heard of again until the arrival of the Superior Ganma, Mokana. During Reika's first battle with the Ganma, Kai intervened using her Gan Gun Arrow, causing confusion among the two warring parties. Kai apologizes to Reika for her actions and asks to become her partner. Reika warily agrees, not fully trusting the girl. Personality Kai is surprisingly upbeat and cheerful, despite her grim situation and being doomed to forever wander the mortal world. She enjoys exploring the modern world, claiming that she discovers something new every day. She is happy-go-lucky with hardly any signs of malice towards Heisei, even going so far as to call her "buddy". She is also prone to teasing others. She seems to steal things just for the fun of it, and would willingly give back the things she stole if doing so would be for the greater good. If by chance she does get a wish, she usually wishes for something that would help someone who she met while she was collecting them. Despite this, Kai is not without a dark side. Initially, she worked alone, since she was afraid that her mile-a-minute nature would draw people away-and one of her fears was that people wouldn't like her. Even though Reika believes otherwise, she has insisted that someone in her condition could not be saved from limbo by the Eyecons. She states that death has "freed" her from doubts and those who brought her down in the past. Kotone, the girl Kai was before she died, was a very sad and quiet girl. She was always anxious and hesitant to do anything, because she believed that anything she did would have a bad impact on her family name. She highly valued her family's honor, preferring death over shunning the family name. Powers And Abilities ; Limbo : As a ghost, Kai possesses a number of traits which distinguish herself from living humans in addition to her fellow (living) Rider, Heisei. :; Invisibility/Intangibility :: Like the Ganma, the deceased Kai is naturally both invisible and intangible to living people. She has the ability to make himself visible and solid at will, allowing her to interact with humans. If her abilites are anything like Takeru's, her visibility depends on her emotional state. Like any ghost in popular fiction, Kai can use her intangibility to phase through solid objects such as walls or the ground and reemerge elsewhere. :; Indestructibility :: Due to Kai already being dead, she cannot be killed a second time. However, she can still feel pain as she experiences the feeling when she is attacked by the Ganma or feels a force of impact such as a fall from a building. This makes Larcen not a truly unstoppable obstacle to the Ganma, as an overwhelming sensation of pain can cause her to pass out or temporarily be unable to counterattack. :: :: Crystallokinesis: Similar to what happened to Reika after she gained her Boost Eyecon, Kai gained the ability to create and manipulate crystals after being given the Luminous Larcen Eyecon. Forms Also see Legend Rider Eyecons Larcen's forms are called Damashii (魂 Damashī, Souls), accessed using the Ghost Eyecons. She also bears a headpiece called the Persona (ペルソナ Perusona, Latin for "Mask"), which gives off a glow effect with the rest of her body. The Persona changes with Larcen's numerous Damashii forms, as well as serving as a prefix title for all of the Damashii forms' helms. Differentiating herself from Kamen Riders Ghost, Specter, and Heisei, Larcen normally bears a pair of cracked Wisp Horns (ウィスプホーン Wisupu Hōn?) on her head in most of her Damashii forms, allowing her to use them either for perceiving and sensing Ganma within a 4 km. radius or as a weapon. By pulling and pushing the Ghost Driver's lever a second time after transforming, Larcen can activate an Omega Drive (オメガドライブ Omega Doraibu) finishing attack tied to the Ghost Eyecon currently being used. If she pulls and pushes the lever four times, she can instead execute an Oomedama (オオメダマ''Ōmedama''?, lit. "Giant eyeball" (大目玉?)) special attack. Larcen Larcen Damashii ( ) is Larcen's default salmon pink form. Accessed through the Larcen Ghost Eyecon, this Eyecon bears the Persona Sniper '''( ) helmet with the '''Face Sniper ( ) faceplate. Just like Takeru, she is able to use her natural ghost-powers of flight to levitate briefly and avoid enemy attacks. Luminous Larcen Luminous Larcen '''( ) is Larcen's powered-up form which grants her as-of-now unknown abilities. In this form, she is armed with the Lumin Launcher, a crossbow variation of the Gogglasher. Equipment Devices * Ghost Driver - Transformation device * Ghost Eyecons - Transformation trinkets Weapons * Gan Gun Arrow - Sidearm weapon * Lumin Launcher-Luminous Larcen's personal weapon Vehicles * Machine Castor - Rider Machine Trivia * The spelling of Castor in terms of the Machine (キャストール) is different than how Castor is usually spelled in Japanese (カストール). This was done to make it similar to Cast Off (キャストオフ), since the counterpart to Spectre's Houndini form is Kabuto. **As an additional act of foreshadowing, she shares her last name with Kabuto himself-Souji Tendou's real last name is Kusakabe. * Kai is the only Ghost Rider who did not die by a monster's hand, but instead took her own life. * At age 56, Kai is by far the oldest of the Ghost Riders (for comparison, Reika is 21 and Arisu is 19). * Kai most likely comes from "Kaitou" (phantom thief), which matches up to what she does (stealing things for the fun of it). * Kai's character theme is "Mirror" by BarlowGirl, Kotone's is "My Immortal" by Evanescence, and Larcen's theme is "We Can't Stop" by Miley Cyrus. * The name of her Persona, Sniper, is a reference to the Kamen Rider Decade song Treasure Sniper, which is the theme for another phantom thief Rider-Daiki Kaitou, Kamen Rider Diend. * In the world of Power Riders, Kai's name changes to '''Kimberly "Kim" Miller, and her Rider name changes to Heist.